Shampoo Bar Video Tutorial

[Zany_in_CO]

MOMMYPOTAMUS COCONUT OIL SHAMPOO BAR - VIDEO & RECIPE

This video tutorial from Mommypotamus has good basic information for making and using shampoo bars. She demonstrates a simple HP recipe that can be done CP as well.

Recipe of 33 oz. Coconut Oil X a factor of 1.37 = 45 oz. soap (approx).
Molds: WSP Silicone Loaf Mold 1501 (8 bars), Individual Round Cavity Mold, or whatever you have on hand.

NOTE: This is for those who are interested in learning to make a lye-based shampoo bar. It is not intended to negate the benefits of a syndet bar, only to provide a good starting-point for formulating one's own shampoo bar that works for them.

 

[DeeAnna]

I've saw that tutorial recently. Her recommendation to use 100% coconut oil makes me cringe.

Assuming I thought soap is a good thing for washing hair (for the record, I don't think this) -- I can't imagine why she's suggesting a 100% CO soap. It would be so very drying to the scalp and hair, especially at the 10-12% superfat she recommends.

Otherwise the recipe checks out okay and the tutorial itself is fine. Make it for laundry soap or general household cleaning. But 100% CO soap for washing hair? Ummmm, no.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

But 100% CO soap for washing hair? Ummmm, no.

Your point is well taken, @DeeAnna but I hope we can agree to "different soaps for different folks". What is drying for some may be great for others. Obviously it works for Mommypotamus. I have "black hair" in mind where coconut oil is recommeneded as a great conditioner and I know of at least one soaper who used the same recipe to treat her teenagers' acne with success. In any case, if someone finds it too drying for their hair, they can use the bar as a pre-treatment for laundry stains.

 

[DeeAnna]

The problem here is the idea of "different soaps for different folks" is not even hinted at in this tutorial. Mommypotamus touts this recipe as the greatest thing evahhh, but you know as well as I do that a 100% CO soap at 10-12% superfat isn't going to work for a lot of people's skin and hair.

If inexperienced soap makers follow this tutorial and use this soap on their hair, many are going to experience dry scalp and dry hair. They won't know why this is happening because the blog author didn't bother to give them the information they need to make informed decisions about this type of product.

Again, assuming I thought soap for washing hair is a good thing and I were writing this tutorial, I'd WOULD explain why this particular recipe will work for some but won't work for everyone.

 

[AliOop]

Confession: this was one of the very first recipes I ever tried, almost ten years ago now. At that time, she used a 20% SF for her shampoo bar. For years, I used bars made from that very recipe on my body and hair. I truly had no idea that for most people, this would have ruined their hair and probably dried out their skin. It did in fact do both of those things to my husband after about two years of regular use. I only stopped using it to wash my hair about two years ago when I began coloring my hair, because as one might expect, 100% CO soap will strip all that color right out, right quick.

I'm sad to see that she now recommends a lower SF, and that she still doesn't give any warnings about the contraindications of using soap on hair. I've read enough horror stories to know that I was very, very lucky that it worked for me. And it probably would not have worked had I used it at 8% SF instead of 20% SF!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

The thing to remember about lye-based shampoo bars or liquid shampoo is to rinse with increasingly cool water until it's as cold as you can stand it to close the hair shaft and get all of the soap residue out. Then follow up with an apple cider or lemon juice rinse to restore the acid mantle of the scalp. I could be mistaken, but my sense of the "horror" stories is that they didn't have the supportive group experience that I had to guide them through the process.

When I first started using soap to wash my hair in 2004, shampoo bars were very popular on the forum I was on at that time. I didn't formulate a bar specifically for shampoo. I just used whatever was in the shower at the time. It took a year (which is typical for some of us) before my hair adjusted. Hubby's hair adjusted readily from the very beginning and he loved the convenience of using the same soap to wash his hair as he used to wash all over. READ MORE:

EVERYTHING ABOUT SHAMPOO BARS

I rarely use bar soap now. What's interesting is that when I recently ran out of my liquid shampoo I used a an OTC organic shampoo that looked pretty benign on paper BUT, after 3 washings, I had the same experience as those who cannot use lye-based shampoo. It was drying and my hair started falling out! YIKES!

 

[AliOop]

Interesting recommendations, Zany, and thank you for sharing them. I did use an ACV rinse but did not do the cold water rinsing. I guess I was just very fortunate, probably in part bc I don’t wash my hair more than every 5-7 days bc it is so dry, and bc my face can’t tolerate use the of most hair products. They give me rashes and breakouts something fierce!

Until this past November, my thick curly dry hair was down to my elbows if I straightened it. It has always been dry but was extremely strong and healthy. I chopped it very short with the idea that I’d grow out the gray, but just caved last month and started coloring it again. So no hair soap for me, as the coloring is too expensive and time-consuming to see it all stripped out with one wash.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@AliOop I hear ya! Most hair products irritate my skin as well. I used to color my hair as well. At age 45, my daughter said, "Mom, why don't you let your hair grow out and let your natural beauty show?" LOL
So I did and I've never looked back. At 78, my hair is the healthiest its ever been and I have very little gray. just a bit at the sides. I am forever grateful to those that came before me that I'm able to make my own products that are specifically formulated to what works for me.

 

[Danatras]

I've been using shampoo bars 100% coconut with 12% SF. Its been working great for my hair. It is not drying, as the high superfat is compensating. Also you must use vinegar rinse due to the high SF. It takes about 2 weeks to get your hair used to it, but is the greatest thing I've done for my hair in the past years.

 

[AliOop]

I've been using shampoo bars 100% coconut with 12% SF. Its been working great for my hair. It is not drying, as the high superfat is compensating. Also you must use vinegar rinse due to the high SF. It takes about 2 weeks to get your hair used to it, but is the greatest thing I've done for my hair in the past years.

We are part of a small minority of folks who can use hair soap without seriously damaging our hair. I feel very fortunate to have used it successfully for many years.

But knowing all the folks who have suffered greatly from hair breakage and loss, I don't recommend it to anyone. If someone says they want to try it, I recommend that they read the stories of the folks for whom it did not work, so they know what to look for in case things go south.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

We are part of a small minority of folks who can use hair soap without seriously damaging our hair

True... on this forum only. Since 2004, I have been on many forums and Yahoo groups where "Shampoo Bars" were regularly used, made and sold by the majority of members and discussed, with the caveat that new members take care to rinse thoroughly with increasingly cool water to get all the soap residue out and follow up with an apple cider vinegar or lemon juice rinse to restore the acid mantle of the scalp. Also, that there is a period of adjustment that can last for a short period of time, i.e. none at all, or a year, as it was in my case.

You did well to mention:

But knowing all the folks who have suffered greatly from hair breakage and loss, I don't recommend it to anyone.

It is important to include this information when discussing lye-based shampoo bars. I had no idea until I joined SMF in 2017. Back then, the issue was so emotionally intense that lye-based "Shampoo Bars" were a banned subject. I was shocked and dismayed. I am grateful that it is no longer so and I am allowed to share the advice I received so many moons ago.

 

[Janewoc17]

We are part of a small minority of folks who can use hair soap without seriously damaging our hair. I feel very fortunate to have used it successfully for many years.

But knowing all the folks who have suffered greatly from hair breakage and loss, I don't recommend it to anyone. If someone says they want to try it, I recommend that they read the stories of the folks for whom it did not work, so they know what to look for in case things go south.

Chiming in here: I tried five or maybe six different lye based shampoo bar recipes over four years, rinsed with cold water and ACV...waited weeks to adjust...waited a little longer... lye based shampoo turned my hair both greasy and dry and brittle and dull, lost the curl. Bought Deva Curl No Poo again. The problem being when lye based shampoo bars are promoted as a solution for everyone. I am going to try SynDet bars for my hair and for my wool and silk handwashing. I sure appreciated the straightforward information I found here on the fact that lye based shampoo bars simply do not work for everyone as kept thinking I was doing something wrong.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I am going to try SynDet bars for my hair and for my wool and silk handwashing.

I am sorry to hear Lye-based Shampoo Bars didn't work for you. I agree. They certainly aren't for everyone!
There is a contingent of members currently discussing Syndet Shampoo Bars. A quick search should lead you to that thread. Good luck!

 

[Kiti Williams]

I am sorry to hear Lye-based Shampoo Bars didn't work for you. I agree. They certainly aren't for everyone!
There is a contingent of members currently discussing Syndet Shampoo Bars. A quick search should lead you to that thread. Good luck!

it is a shame that lye-based shampoo bars don't like everyones hair. My hair is down to my butt and I have been using my own shampoo bars for 6 years. I started right after I had it cut to 2" all over. I used to donate my hair to a wig maker, until I got too grey. I have a full, thick head of hair. I have never bleached or frosted my hair, maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I started right after I had it cut to 2" all over. I used to donate my hair to a wig maker, until I got too grey. I have a full, thick head of hair.

Hmmm. I used to do that exact same thing. I wonder if the 2" cut has something to do with it?

I have never bleached or frosted my hair, maybe that has something to do with it.

I don;t think so, but maybe? I bleached and permed my hair until I was 45. At that time, my daughter said, "Mom, why don't you stop coloring and perming your hair and let your natural beauty show?" LOL I did and I'm glad I did. I'm 78 now. I have "virgin" hair with very little gray and some natural wave, although my hair has always been thin and fine.

 

[Kiti Williams]

Hmmm. I used to do that exact same thing. I wonder if the 2" cut has something to do with it?

I don;t think so, but maybe? I bleached and permed my hair until I was 45. At that time, my daughter said, "Mom, why don't you stop coloring and perming your hair and let your natural beauty show?" LOL I did and I'm glad I did. I'm 78 now. I have "virgin" hair with very little gray and some natural wave, although my hair has always been thin and fine.

My hair is not super fine, and does have a natural wave when short. My hair is quite thick. (2 rounds with a heavy duty hair tie)

 

[Quilter99755]

I tried a 100% CO shampoo bar a long time ago. It was awful on my hair, scalp and pretty much any part of my skin that it dripped onto. I then tried several others that were called Shampoo Bars and they were fine. I don't remember any adjustment period and although I did rinse with ACV at first, I finally stopped doing that just out of laziness. I've talked with my hairdresser once I found out that you "shouldn't" use regular soap on your hair, but she said mine was fine. It is very fine hair with a curl (a wave here in our dry climate) and I keep it short, maybe 2- 2 1/2". I've gotten very lazy and now just wash it with whatever soap I have in the shower at the time, no ACV rinse and rarely a conditioner.

It works for me but I would never recommend that to anyone without a caveat that says it won't work for everyone. In fact I am trying to come up with a syndet recipe that will work for my daughter as she is getting an irritation around her cochlear implant that she got after brain surgery. She was also a real soap person for her hair until the implant. She has tried several different shampoos and syndet bars and they will work for 4-8 weeks and then it gets irritated again. That one is going to be harder to find than finding a nice soap that everyone in my family likes! LOL

Every scalp and hair are totally different...and can change from time to time. I always take any recipe with a grain of salt as what feels great on someone else may not feel great on your skin. And try small batches. You can try a wider variety of things if you are making small batches, along with testing alternate ingredients to compare.

 

[AliOop]

My hair is coarse, dry, thick, and normally curly but now just wavy (I live in the same dry climate as @Quilter99755). So although I hear a lot of people saying that fine hair is most likely to be able to tolerate soap-as-shampoo, or to use a vinegar rinse or cool water rinse, I believe it is due to something else: hair porosity.

I didn't know anything about this subject until I investigated the curly-girl method. Each of us has naturally low-porosity, medium-porosity, or high-porosity hair. Hair can also become more porous over time due to coloring, bleaching, straightening, perming, heat treatments, swimming in chlorinated pools, and the like.

Turns out I have very low-porosity hair. This means that the cuticles are very tightly clamped down, if you will, and don't open easily to water or anything else. As a result, it takes a long time for my hair to receive color or to get wet, and a very long time for it to dry once it does become wet. Many oils (looking at you, coconut oil) tend to sit on top and not absorb well.

After thinking about it, my guess is that the level of porosity also affects how much a lye soap is able to lift the cuticles, and therefore cause damage to the hair shaft. If I follow that line of thinking, low-porosity hair would be less vulnerable or even immune to damage from lye-soap because the cuticles start from a tighter, less open and less open-able place.

So, that's my theory. I'd love to hear from those who are able to use soap as shampoo, whether they have low- or high-porosity hair. My guess is that they have low-porosity hair.

@Zany_in_CO @Kiti Williams @Quilter99755 would any of you be willing to report back as to whether you have low- or high-porosity hair? I can't remember if @KimW or anyone else here uses soap-as-shampoo bars, but would love to get reports about hair porosity from anyone who does. There are a variety of ways to determine this, including this quiz and the hair-strand-in-water test.

 

[Quilter99755]

@AliOop The porosity of hair theory sounds reasonable. I don't use oils on my hair, but have tried some "treatments" and have always looked like a drowned rat. I guess that is what they mean when they say the product sits on top of your hair rather than is absorbed. I have always had oily hair and washed it daily when I was working. My hair is very fine so even in a humid situation it turns very curly and actually looks a bit wet to me. However, when washed it dries very fast...my kids always told me I was lucky to have "wash n wear" hair. There again, that might be just that my hair is fine rather than low porosity.

I do know that I cannot deal with store bought shampoos....probably due to the sulfates...as I get a huge oily buildup on my scalp that sort of looks like cradle cap. And maybe that was the reason I needed to wash my hair daily ANd that dandruff shampoo did not work at all for that.

It will be interesting to hear from people who do use soap rather than syndets.

 

[Kiti Williams]

The quiz says I have normal porosity hair.